Apparatus for generating high-pressure oil-gas.



FO GENERATE APPAATUS APPLICATION FILED .\PR.1.1909,

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R. VULLEUMER. APPARATUS POR GENERATING HIGH PRESSURE OIL GAS. APPLICATION FILED APR.1, 1909.

LGSSL Patented sept. 17,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNITED STATES i a RUDOLPH VUILLEUMIER, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NE" COMPRESSING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., GGRQR-fll 'i3-" NE'W APFARATUS FOR GENERATENG Specicaton of Letters iraient.

Application filed April 1909, erlal NoQllSL-.SL

To all l/'u'mi it may 11o/merli l le itv known thaty I, RI'noLrii VUILLEU- Mina, a citizen of the United States, residing,r at New Rochelle, in the countyoic West chester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Generating lligli-Pressure f )il(i`iaf-f. of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will ahle others skilled in the art to which it apperlains to make and use the same.

This invention broadly deals with systems for converting hydro-carbone into lifted gases, hut more particularly it concerns an apparatus for producing gas of high .illumi- Hating` power and under high pressure from low `rade mineral oils. Since. however, certain inlvautagcs characteristic of this invention prominently appear when crude oil is decomposed iu the presence ot' superheatcd Steam under high pressure and is under the manipulation of steam otherwise subjected to a predetermined cycle of open ations, it will he conducive toclearness to l'ullir disclose this invention by way ot such specific embodiment. The nat-nrc of this .s vsteni is such that its full disclosure may he greatly facilitated hy'descrihing the rarious characteristic features of construction thercoli,`in conjunction with statements de tailing the manner in which the oil will course through and undergo essential change in quality in the various parts of the apparatas.` f

In the drawings, like characters of refer4 ence denote corresponding parts througiiout the several views, of which- Figure l is a geiicral diagrammatic representation of thc various correlated major elements ot' my apparatus for decomposing,l crude oil into a fixed gas; Fig. 2 is a sectional diagrammatic representation showing various details of construction and arrange ment not illustrated in Fig. l.

its conducing. to a hotter understandiiw of' the nature of my simple system for ellin ciently convertin ,1r crude petroelum or the like into gas ol high illuminating power, it will ho ot advantageto briefly outline 'the saine, prelimiuaryvto a n'iore, detailed discussionihereot.- 'Air incloscd retieulated framework or checker-work olf fire-chrichrv is first liroughtito a high temperature, vf. c'. not materially exceeding 12000 Fahrenheit, and

this stored-up heat is then utilized underV saneraiso ae.-

'l f oi: an atmosphere of; "if the i .e y l, .t1 EN? or cai .ion mi ine ciente collect .L turned out dui lle),

Work (whe the nl loge Y as matter and ing' 'from the f passed through a or' seine suitable eolie, so as 'to as may with the line `gives up nnicli er its heat to incoming ciucle oil and then pa, es through condenser into reseri'oi ire in erator and to the reserii''irelieat about ifi; .fr -nios toja'aicl end or' il `s in e mixed v-:ilii steam, arrjy' matter., enu

and i aiso containing the condenser, v lat two ingredie ts condense; the steazn. to water. and the 'la ry matter to a more or less fluid which is used a "fuel in the preliminary heating of the generator. These products then enter the reservoir. ln taci, under certain conditions, may be enough of this tary byproduct to furnish all the fuel that may he necessary for the heating ot the generator, lt. Should also he stated that the incomingF original oil 'which is supplied to 'the generator flows through pipes in ,iate Contact with the diioharge ilpes of lie resnlting gas, and, in consenuance.,

incoming` nal oil thus alo` the. ou )infy lined and this saving oit ieat works a iurtl'ier economy in the system. The, forcing of the original oil into generator is also accomplished Without inrol il ineel'ianical appliance/Sa such pumps, oy means of steam. 'that is to say, l Vemploy t :o t

ingr' crude oiland gras under pressur and displace(1 connected by a, .a

once more injected into the generator and therein burned so as to again store upin the (generator sufficient heat. to accomplish the eeompositlon of the oil into gas during Vthe following gas making cycle.

The b0iZe1.-T his is indicated by A on the drawings and is utilized as a source of steam, the particular type of boiler not bcing an essential part of this invention so long as it Iefliciently produces steam in sutiicient quantities andat a suitable pressure,y which in this case will be about 17 atmospheres. In this embodiment7 the steam from this boiler is employed, first, for'the pur pose of injecting fluid and air into the generator so as to bring the same to a high temperature as a result of combustion; second, forl forcing the crude petroleum through various parts of the apparatus and into the generator where it will be volatilizcd and decomposed into gas; third, to provide a catalytically acting atmosphere within the generator to promote the desired decompd sition of the crude oil; fourth, to serve as a means instrumental in furnishing the pressure needed to force the resultant oil-gas through the various parts of the apparatus into the reservoir; and fifth, as a means for cleaning out the reservoir of all residual gas remaining at the end of the gas making cycle and of sweeping thisresidual gas into the reservoir, thereby preparin the generator for the reception of the com ustible matter used to raise up the temperature of such generator' preparatory to starting the cycle of gas making. lt will be convenient, in following out this description, to consider these operations in the above-mentioned sequence. i

The gasge9ierator.-This is indicated on the drawings by the character Band acts altcrnativelyio store up heat and then to lvield up this stored heat in decomposing Voil intoa fixed gas. It preferably assumes the shape of an upstanding cylinder formed exteriorly of a moderately heavy steel' shell l. This shell is interiorly lined with some suitable nolrconductingrefractory material 2, such as firc-bric`k and asbestos, and is filled more or less as illustrated in the draw ings, with a retirulated mass'or framework `such as the cliecker-work B from a point near the base of the generator to a point somewhat above the middle of the generatorv The upper part of the generator is also provided with a secondary or st cam-Superheating checker-'work4 which is preferably spacedv somewhat above the firstmentioned oil-decomposing checker-work 3 so as to provide what may be regarded as an oil-spraying chamber 5, this` chamber being intermediate the upper superheating and lower decomposing checkerwvorks. hearth 6, preferably of refractory matel rial, underlies the o1l-decomposing checkerwork 3 so as to provide a combustion chamber or lire place 7. The part of. the encrator above the steam-superheating c leckerwork provides a stack Ft controlled by a large stack-valve 9, which permits of the escape of the products of combustion resulting from the heating up of the generator preparatory to the subsequent admission of oil and resultant generation ofi gas; this stack-valve t) may be tightly closed so that during the gas makingcyclc the vaporous contents of the generator may be brought to and maintained at.a pressure upward of 1 4 atmospheres. A valve 10 is also provided for the purpose of admitting the fuel such as tarry matter intersprayed with air which, by burning in the generator, raises the temperature thereof. .While but one generator has been shown, this disclosure will make it obvious that two or more may be connected together in lseries or parallel, although the shown arrangement is regard ed as preferable because of its essential simplicity', which constitutes an all-important. factor in the commercial generation of high pressure gas.

Prominent characteristics of ,f1/.fumatore- It may be here/pointed out that gas under high pressure has heretofore been made by strongly heating oil in heavy iron rtorts of small diameter which were externally subjected to a high heat. This, however. involved some very considerable difficulties. inasmuch as under the requisite high heat the iron retorts rapidly deteriorated; and it was also found that not only the retorts, but 'other portions of the apparatus.` would quickly fill with lamp-black and carbon, so that the brief period during which the gas could be made was necessarily followed by a. long and laborious period of cleaning out and replacing the retorts and other portions of the apparatus. Again, according to su Ah prior practice, the gus was not generated uudcr the full high pressure of from 14 to l5 atmospheres which isused in ear and buoy lighting or otherwise where storage, distribution or use of high-pressure oihgas is of'pri-mary im ortance. Consequently. the gas, as hereto` ore made had to be recom# of ire-briclclr pressed by a steamalriren compressing ap- Tlns 'oil-decomposingcheckenwork extends l paratus upto a pressure of about 14A atmostank D contains the crude oil, which ,may he admitted to the same hy means ofi valve 17 in the bottoni; the amount of oil in such oil feed tank being aseertainahle by a gage 19 of. Special design, and providing a sliding scale 18 which may have its graduations expressed in gallons or other units of liveaeurenient, as may be preferred. Both of these tanks are adapted to withatand a high pres-V the steam which may succeed in entering the ppe leg will he condensed forthwith, thus e ectually ilircventingy the steam from peesq iner over through the looppipe Q0 into the oil-feed tank.

(/pcmcn of steam. for feeding oiZ.-The oil tank l) is first nearly filled with oil through the valve 17 by means of a steam pump or otherwieeuntil `the gage glass indicates il to have nearly filled such tank. The adjacent pressure tank C is filled with fixed gae'under pressure by means of pipe J' connnunicatin Y with the reservoir G, and as soon as a su icient amount of this fixed gas .has been introduced the connection with the reservoir G is cut olf so that a beck-flow may not take place during the subsequent introduction of steam under e greater pressure. The pressure tank, therefore, con' tains an initial charge of compressed fixed gas. By 'virtue of the connecting pipe 2O the prefsrlznre will he equal in these two tanke, and the oil in the tank D will therefore he under a medium pressure, which, however, will he insulcient to force the oil into the generator against thie working vressure. This moderately (:or1niessed fixe gas of course.l hilo holh ofthe tanlte` as well the intervening connection. That is to ua'y, the full working pressure inthe generator will be about l5 atmospheres, and in order thaty the oil. may he successfully injected, it must exceed the generator pressureby about one to two atmospheres. This, however, ie readily accomplished by admitting high pree-ure steam into the lower part of? the e nre tank C through the valve 14g whie steam. will, of course, force some et' the gas over into ithe oil-feed tank l) hy partly displacing its'equivalent volume in pressure tank C and also partly 'oy heating, and accordingly, expanding the fixed gas. In other worde, vthe fixed non-condeneuhle gasoperates-1 as a cushion so to speak in. transmitting the pressure of the steam through the connecting pipe into the oil cordingly,

Aing very aci liler pipe throughfnhnih the gas outcome-w.,

manner tank. without its being nwessary for such steam to actually pad through Said pipe into the oil. As a result, after e few secu ends after the steam has been turned on, both the oil `toed tank and the pressure tank will have reached a pressure very nearly corresponding to that of the steam boiler, which pressure will maintained during the entire period of fas-making and will Suffice to force the oi into the generator against the workin`v pressure the eci 'The steam which has heen admitted into the pressure tank C tends to diffuse to a. cer

(ein extent through the fixed gas hut the small quantity of this steam that tends to rise in this way into the connecting pipe Q0 is unable to ass over into the companion oil-eed tank li), since the cooling jacket or condenser E is interposed and will forthwith condense an)7 steam which may rise in the legQl, and theresulting water will he lreturnml by gravity to the bottom of the pressure tank, from which it 'may be drawn through pipe 15 from time to time.

lt will he perceived from the above that through the inelrumentality of the fixed gaa the Steam which itself, is inca able of paw-1 ing by the condenser is nevert ieless enahlel to produce the desired pressure on the oil in the other vessel.

Apparatus forV preheaffimf; 017.---fl`his apparatus F is interposed in the pipe 24 which conveys the oil to the generator and en hances the-economy of operation of the ln-- tire system. The a paratus consists of one or more coils 25 o pi ing through which 'pass the highly heute products resultio:

Vfrom gas makin These coils are. however.

ncased Within Jackets 26, each of which `fprovided at one end with a euiiahle expon Sion joint. The crude oil entering tlironnrh pipe 24, passes into the jacket lo ao as lo eircumscribe the internal coils E25. and a Y extract a large part of the avait able heat from the same. ll Should he stated that the incoming oil which paw-M` in, series through these jackets, doer; so iu opposite directions'to the How of the oin-4 cominov gas,` thereby increasing the eii'eclw ness of the heat transference from the gm to the oil. Of course, these jackets may he I'arled .in number and seize and may amitie divers forms, though thatI shown simple and efiicient and has the advantage of he #sible i'or cleaning out the in The oil, rremerging from the prefheater, flows through pipe 2T into the generatie all a point and enters the oil praying chain hor 5 in the forln of a fine epm'y, this heini: done -hy means of oil spraying nozzle. which are of well known designs euch an that shown. .An oil. inlet valve 2S) is interpojwd in. the pipe 27 zo ae to control the adinieeion of oilduring the period of gas makV lli) lili

not so hot the point 2S.

inge and so as to enable theI iow of oil to be stopped entireiy during 'the sweepingout 7, olowingoit and i heating up arf/or superneatmg' choc this non' a very l -wori 3), the steam will he im .,Qerheated and further along siii iii-Then the pressure risen to about; Si atinofcrater being' uii or" supero oli vaive 29 will be'opened l be 'oreed by the pressure of the oii 'eed LLani-:7D 'through the pipe 2% into r 'the preheater it", thence 'thro i L in its preheated torni into me spraying chamber oit the generator in the of a tine spray in consequence oi the oii spraying nozsies, which are shown or about the As Soon the oil admission valve 29 is opened, the main-"faire 3i., which interposed in the outiet pipe Q5 and which leads into the storing tant. or receiver G, is opened. Adjacentthe main valive` 31 there is also a check-valve whichwili open inst as soon as the pressure in the generator rearhes that of the storeholder. The admission of the incoming steam to the gen- Y. mail.

generator the genteami, the

erator if-t eontrolied by some suitable means,

as, :for exampie, an orifice of iixcd predetermined diameter, so aste keep the fiow of steam a fitted quantity. rifhe Sow oi the 'oil may also be known' by an observation of the sliding scale 18 attached to the feed glass if) on the oil feed tank. and the How of such oil may thus he readiiy regulated ar'ci'irding to the circumstances.

The cil enters the generator, heilig injected in the form of a fine spray into the spraying chamber 5, 1wherein it intimately ons commingles with the superheated steam which already fills the generator. The mixture of oii vapor and superheated steam ows downwardly from the oil spraying; chamber 5 and inltrates through the still more intensely heated primary checkerworlt 3, whereupon the oil spray is first couverted into a vapor and then becomes4 intenseiy superheeted and ultimately entirely brought into the condition ot a fixed gas. rEhe fdiiiig the generator and intermingiing the vaporized oil does not appear to react with the carbonaceous material Ere-ed -fom such oii by decomposing it into a ior candle-power gas as might be surinisejriy but under proper Working conditions, its action appears to be! more of a catalytic nature" and appears to exert some sort of a rotective influence upon the oil vapor, ena ling the latter to transtorni'into a. gas of very goed illuminating power thithont producing the abundant deposition of carbon in the form o lamp-black or otherwise 'whiehim'ariably occurred according to prior methods. it is to be understood, howeiner7 that some earbonaceous materiali, either in the orm of lamp-biatch or otherwisea will iet behind on the checker-Work and burnt out durin the next heating-up, aibhough observations tend to indicate alii the steam originaily admitted aili subsequently reappear as condensed water, 'from which it -is believed that the steam ecm as a catalyst. It will be noted that, this system Works a great economy over exter- Daily-heated rettirtd'since the most intensely heated surfaces of the confined checkerwork are `those which directly Contact, with the oil vapors to be decomposed'into a zied gas* it is also to be observed that, inasmuch as the pressures throughout the system are positively controlled by and areY directly dependent upon the boiler-pressure. the system is safeguarded against accidental and neglectul operations, which is a matter of paramount consequence. Furthermore, by making the infiow of oil into the generator 'directly dependent upon the boilerpressure, the system hecomes quite independabie of mechanically-acting high pressure pumps with a. concomitant improvement in the uniformity and /reiiability of the nii iiow in addition to a marl-:ed simplitication from the standpoint of the operator.

The high temperature acubberr-This is indicated by H and consists of a cylindrical shell 3&1 ofsteel or other suitable material having cleaning-out caps 313 and ilied With a porous refractory scrubbing material 35 suitable for high temperature, such as coke and the like. This scrubber is maintained at a high tenn'ierature by the out-going it is connected with the generator by means of a pipe such as that indicated by 3?, so that the oil gas plus the tarry matter and the 'also the valve '1 /l of the pressure tank Y the. generator will superheated steam will enter one end of the scrubber and infiltrate through the highly hea ted porous contents thereof and ultimately pass out through pipe 253 connected with the other end ot such scrubber. The function ot' this scrubber, which istat a high temperature` is to absorb or otherwise eliininatethe lmnp-black and carbon from the vaporized prmluets ot the generator, thereby preventing a prtwipitatiou of carbon and lamp-black in the succeeding portions of the apparatus, thus keeping all connectingpipes, cooling jackets and the like clean, and therefore in eilieient conditiein for good service. Furthermore, this scrubber also tends to pre vent the lamp-black t'roin being carried over and mixed with the byproduct of the gas after coi'idensation, a feature of which is of considerable iniportance in Connection with the use subsequently made ofthis byproduct, The products of the composition,

after leavinu the scrubber, pass through thecoils of tue oil heating pickets F wherein much ot the heat oi such decomposition products is absorbed hy the crude oil flowing in a contrary direction toward the generator. After leaving such coils the gus, toether with somo tarry mattei' and supereated steam7 will pass through the con denser 37, wherein the.tarry matter and steam will be condensed, and then through the clleck-valve 32 and the main valve 3l into the store tank er reservoir G.

Sweeping/out genwatmz-This operation follows the period ol gas making and pre' cedes the period ofi heat-ing up the generator for a second gas making period. After the aboveanentioned ,gas making period has gone on for in the neighborhood of eight -minutes and a pressure ot' from'li to 15 atmospheres has been attained in the making of the gas, this operation will be brought to a close by turning oil' the oil-valve 29 The incoming steam valve 30 in the stack of not, however, be turned oil until steam has been permitted to tiow into the generator for about four minutes. This steam serves to displace the oil-gas which may lill the generator and pushes such oil-gas from the generator into the scrubber, through the heating jackets and ultimately into the storeholder or reservoir G. After this has been done and the generator has been substantially freed from any all valves are closed and the steam remaining in the generator will be exhausted will, of' course, reducethe pressure; in such generaI tot topabout atmospheric pressure and the, generatonwill he ready tor another heating which. will last for about ten minutes, the cycle above described will be Pi whereupon repeated.

From the foregoing disclosure, it will he perceived that I have devised a very eltcient and serviceable system for converting crude petroleum or any of its ingredients or dis tillates or equivalents (or any other hydrocarbon suitable for gas making according to this process), into a fixed gas of good illuminating power and under a pressure of about 14 or 15 atn'iospheres,l or higher if desired.

Attention may also be directed to the fact that by heating up the generator in a direction opposite to that in which the hytflrocarbonaeeous material travels through the same, several noteworthy advantages are obtained. Thus: the necessity of having in connection with the generating chamber a separate suerheating is'ob'viated; an economy in hcat in yup the generator is secured; and the oil is introduced into a part of the generator which is at lower teml'ierature than the discharge region, thereby somewhat reducing the carbonization while at the same time more etliciently utilizing the lower temperatures of the generator.

In referring to the steam as being under high pressure in the above description and throughout the following claims, a prcs sure is denoted which is abnormal with re erence to prior practices which may otherwise supcrticially appear similar to certain aspects of the process described in connection with the aJparat-us forininffr the subject matter of tus invention. That is to say, in such instances, the use of a pressure more or less closely a proxiinating fourteen atmospheres is regar( ed as a distinguishing feature in view of the radical changes in capacities and reactions of the processes.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparent-ly u idely diti'erent embodiments of this invention could be* made without departing from -the scope thereof, it is intended that all mata ter contained in the above" description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Itis also to be understood thatfthe language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the genericand specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the inveiition which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus adapted, to produce high candle-powergas under high pressure, couibining a generator, means for internally heating the same, a pre-heater, means for vessel containing oil, a. conduit leadin f from n lower 'point *of said vessel througi saldi preheater to said means for introducing oil,a

n steam tank, a connection between the upper ends of said oil vessel und said steam lnnk, means or introducing a ixed gas to said oil 'vessel and said steam tank, means for introducin high pressure steam into said steam tan whereby siiidlgas may not as a means instrumental in transmitting the pressure of said steam to said oil to enable the latter to be forced into said gen* erator.

11. An apparatus of the nature disclosed, comprising in combination, u, generator adapted to be brought to n high. temper eture, means for internally heating the generator, n prehestter, und means for intro (lucing through said prelienter finely divided oil under steam pressure into said gonorator, said oil being Substantially out of Contact with said steam.

12. An apparatus of the nature disolosed, comprising in combination, n generutor adapted to be brought to n high temperature, means for internally hunting the gon* erator, :i preheater, and means for introducing .through said prehenter`I finely divided oil under fluid pressure intqsaitl glienerntor, said fluid being substantially preveniml from entering said generator.

In testimony whereof I uix my signature, in the presence of two 'witnesses'.

RUDOLPH VUILLEUMI ER.

ELMnn E. Almere., JonN T. CLARK. 

